Graduate level writing

Contemporary issues in management

(“Strategic management and strategic thinking” and “Managing ethics and sustainability”

Please read the instructions thoroughly so that you are not mistaken regarding the questions, the scope and the delivery of the assignment. The assignment is to be written in 12 points, single space Times New Roman.

The scope of your answers must not exceed 3000 words in total for the answers (front page and reference list not included). No more pages will be considered in the grading. This means that you may have to use the space wisely.

Remember this assignment demands more when it comes to clarity in arguing and answering, as well as development of the thoughts delivered, compared to a normal written essay. It is your ability to construct an answer and to show that you are familiar with and understands the relevant course content that will be graded. Using different perspectives and a variety of relevant literature from the themes to answer a specific question will be rewarded.

When answering the questions, it is very important that you clearly refer to different theoretical sources and authors when these are related to, discussed or in any form drawn upon to answer the questions. Direct quotations must be in quotation marks, with reference to the source, including page number from where the quote was taken.

The questions to be discussed and answered are the following:

1. Strategic analysis and strategic thinking

During the theme about Strategic management we discussed both a more classical strategic analysis approach (for example based upon the works of Michael Porter) and a strategic thinking approach. Compare these two approaches, highlight both similarities and differences, and discuss their consequences for working practically with strategy development.

Key concepts: what is strategy, strategy analysis, environment, strategic thinking

2. The history and future of ethics in organizational life

Ethics within organizational life is allegedly a growing field of scholarship. By using the literature, discuss the development of ethics in business studies. How have scholars approached the phenomenon and topic? What are the limitations with the

dominating approaches? What are the alternatives? As always in academic writing, try to create a nuanced and interesting text.

Key concepts: Responsibility, CSR, In search of corporate social responsibility, business ethics as practice

3. Business ethics as everyday practices that are filled with dilemmas

A contemporary approach to business ethics is to view it as everyday practices. Given the economic, ecological and social challenges of today, this is an approach that might shed new light on how managers and leaders handle multiple objectives, tensions and paradoxes in their working life. It is also an approach that could increase our understanding on the importance of a leader’s (manager’s) ethos, ethical subjectivity, and identity. Use the literature, but also examples from real events, in order to discuss the limits and advantages of business ethics as a practice. Choose one of the concepts ethos, ethical subjectivity and identity in order to deepen your discussion of business ethics as practice.

Key concepts: Business ethics as practice, ethos, being-in-the-world, ethical subjectivity, identity

Good Luck!